The Rooster Walk Music and Arts Festival is a charity fundraiser that takes place every Memorial Day weekend (late May) at Pop’s Farm in Axton, Va., (just outside of Martinsville.) The festival is operated by Rooster Walk Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to promoting music, arts and education in the Martinsville/Henry County area.

Rooster Walk was created in memory of two Martinsville natives who passed away while still in their 20s – Edwin “the Rooster” Penn and Walker Shank. Edwin and Walker loved Martinsville, music and the outdoors, and their childhood friends who created the event felt a music festival would be a perfect tribute.

Our motto is “Appreciate the Present,” and we consider our festival a celebration of life. We want folks to use Rooster Walk as a weekend to gather with family and friends.

Last spring, Rooster Walk 7 drew roughly 4,000 people to see more than 40 bands over the course of four days. The festival, which features on-site camping, as well as arts, crafts, food and children’s activities, donates its proceeds to local and regional charities. In the past six years, Rooster Walk Inc. has raised more than $80,000 for local and regional charities, including the Penn-Shank Memorial Scholarship Fund at Martinsville High School and the Band Instrument Donation & Repair Program for local public school band programs.

Rooster Walk has been named the No. 1 “Under the Radar” festival in the Southeast & Mid-Atlantic United States by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine and highlighted in Southern Living Magazine, among other honors and accolades.